We all need to be vigilant

NStar herbicide decision a good first step

It was a pleasant surprise to see NStar acceding to the environmental concerns of Cape Codders, even temporarily. Last week's decision to place a year-long moratorium on the use of herbicides on the company's rights-of-way will hopefully provide enough time for a full examination of the effects of such chemicals on our sole-source aquifer. It's the second such suspension in as many years.

capecodtimes.com

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Posted Mar. 10, 2011 at 2:00 AM

Posted Mar. 10, 2011 at 2:00 AM

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It was a pleasant surprise to see NStar acceding to the environmental concerns of Cape Codders, even temporarily. Last week's decision to place a year-long moratorium on the use of herbicides on the company's rights-of-way will hopefully provide enough time for a full examination of the effects of such chemicals on our sole-source aquifer. It's the second such suspension in as many years.

Although the company still reserves the right to return to its previous practice of using chemicals to clear paths beneath its power lines, the agreement, which was hammered out with the help of the Cape Cod Commission, means that the electricity supplier will mow this year rather than spray the vegetation.

GreenCAPE, a nonprofit group working against the use of herbicides, was not impressed with the move. Spokeswoman Sue Phelan said the one-year ban just means that opponents of spraying are back where they were at this time last year.

NStar's decision came one day after Cape lawmakers unveiled legislation that would force utilities to work with communities that did not want herbicides used. After 60 days, if there is no agreement, the utility and town would go to arbitration; after 90 days, if there is still no agreement, the utility could apply state-approved herbicides.

NStar is required under federal law to keep the right-of-way clear of any vegetation that could damage its power lines. The company has been working with the Cape Cod Commission for months in an effort to forge an agreement. Last month, an ad hoc committee report called for more study, but endorsed the company's plans to spray. The move infuriated many who opposed the use of herbicides.

The decision also seemed to fly in the face of a resolution, signed by 13 Cape communities, asking NStar to stop using herbicides.

We hope that the latest year-long ban will allow for something that apparently could not be accomplished in the past year: a comprehensive scientific study of the effects of herbicides on our ground water. If that report, for whatever reason, can not be completed in a year, then the ban should be extended indefinitely until such time that a study can prove that the chemicals pose no threat.

Further, the information generated by this study should not end with power lines. The chemicals being used by NStar represent only one set of potential contaminants entering our ground water. We agree with Cape and Islands Farm Bureau President Leo Cakounes that any data collected in conjunction with the study should serve not as an end point, but as a beginning.

NStar's use of herbicides may be in the spotlight now because their name is writ large across our electric bills, but the responsibility for protecting our ground water is something that cannot be relegated to corporations. Herbicides are used on our golf courses, our local farms, and on too many of our own lawns. As long as we as individuals are willing to roll the dice with our ground water, we all run the risk of poisoning our future.